“What do you mean?”
“I’m sitting outside his house, about to go talk to him.”
“Without a plan?”
“My plan is to be honest. I don’t think I realized I was in love with her until she was gone, but now that she is, I can’t imaginenottrying to get her back. I do think Carson would fuck me over if he knew about everything leading up to me falling for her?—”
“Why would he need to know all of that? I think you can lead with ‘I’m in love with your daughter, and I need to know how that is going to affect our professional relationship.’ See where that takes you.”
I’m sure he wants to see his daughter happy, and I know I make her happy. Carson knows there’s no one else I’ve wanted to commit to in the last decade. If she feels the same way, why shouldn’t he support us?
“That’s a good suggestion,” I say. I’ll cut to the chase and tell Carson the truth and let him decide what to do with it.
I say goodbye to Max, feeling lighter now that I know Morgan and I aren’t going to be stepsiblings much longer, and relieved to better understand why Max has remarried so many times after my mom’s death.
Then I walk up the front walkway of the home Morgan spent her middle and high school years in, hoping I can reclaim the girl of my dreams without losing my career prospects in the process.
Carson is as surprised to see me at his door as I am to see him wearing flannel pajama pants and a hoodie. I pretty much thought the man slept in a three-piece suit.
His eyebrows dip and his forehead wrinkles as he looks at me, waiting for an explanation as to why I’m at his house, unannounced, on a Saturday morning.
“Sorry to show up with no warning, but I really need to talk to you.”
“Oh no,” he says, clearly thinking I’ve fucked up somehow and need him to fix my mistake.
The problem is, the only thing I’ve fucked up is my relationship with Morgan because I put my own fears, and my relationship with her dad, ahead of her. Now, I’m determined to either get his blessing, or end our professional relationship.
“It might not be as bad as you’re imagining. May I come in?”
He ushers me through the door and leads me into a large, formal office space at the front of the house. After I’m seated across from him, thankful that there’s a desk in between us so he can’t easily reach me, I say, “I know you told me to stay away from your daughter, but I’m pretty sure I’m in love with her.”
His brows crease and he tilts his chin, narrowing his gaze. “Can you say that again? I’m afraid I’m hallucinating.”
Well, that’s a great sign.“I’m in love with Morgan, and I need to know how this is going to affect our professional relationship.”
He tilts his head as he looks at me, and his calmness actually worries me more than if he’d shouted at me to get out of his house before he ripped my balls off. “How, exactly, did you fall in love with my daughter? I didn’t think you knew each other well.”
I debate how much to tell him and settle for us meeting on vacation and finding out we worked together once we were back in Boston.
He licks his lips and his look is hesitant. “The only vacation Morgan’s gone on recently is her mom’s wedding.”
“Yeah.” I press my lips together, hoping I don’t need to explain more.
“Why were you there?”
I could lie and say I happened to be staying at the same resort. But I don’t want to start off by lying to him. “Because Anne was marrying Max.”
“Shit.” He huffs a laugh. “So you two are . . . related?”
“Not really; that marriage was never going to last. They’ve already separated, thankfully.”
“Shocking.” Carson’s voice is dry. “Why didn’t Morgan tell me this?”
“She said you two don’t really talk about her mom?”
“It’s extremely hard for me not to want to strangle the woman for the way she treats our daughter. That’s one of the main reasons we separated in the first place. I couldn’t be with someone who was jealous of her own daughter.”
My eyes widen at that piece of information. “Does Morgan know that?”
